An Honest Woodcutter and the Beautiful Fairy

There lived a woodcutter in a village. One day he was cutting wood near a pond. Suddenly, his axe fell into the pond. The pond was very deep. The woodcutter did not know how to swim or dive. So, he was sitting there sadly.

Then a wonderful thing happened. A beautiful fairy appeared before the woodcutter. She asked him in a sweet voice, “Why are you so sad? Why are you not cutting wood?”

The woodcutter replied sorrowfully, “My axe has fallen into the pond. I can’t cut wood now.” The fairy then showed him an axe made of silver and asked him if it was his axe. The woodcutter saw the axe and said “It’s not my axe.”

Then the fairy showed him another axe made of gold and asked, “Is this the axe that you loss?” The woodcutter again said, “No, it’s not. My axe is made of wood.”

At last the fairy showed him the lost axe with a wooden handle. The woodcutter happily said, “This is my axe.” The fairy became very happy with the honesty of the honest woodcutter and gave him all the silver and golden axe too.